The Marshal’s Lady is a work of fiction in the paranormal and romance genres and serves as the third installment in the Liberty Valley Love series. It is aimed at mature readers and was penned by Josie Malone. The book follows detective Beth Chambers after she accidentally goes back in time to the wild west whilst pursuing a dangerous killer. Teaming up with the wounded Rad Morgan, a local Marshal native to the 1880s, Beth must conclude her search for the killer in a world where women were expected to stand back and let their men do the dirty work.

This novel serves as an excellent example of how the author’s understanding of a distant time and place can seep into the descriptive prose. This elevates the escapism by including a level of detail about the world of the story that completely takes readers out of their lives and into a living, breathing vision of 1888. Josie Malone’s research into the world of the wild west and her gifted delivery of gorgeous prose provides an exquisite setting for the story, and the characters who populate it only serve to expand its charm further. Beth and Rad are compelling and dynamic leading characters, each with a complex history that the author doles out at well-timed intervals. The Marshal’s Lady ticks a lot of boxes for readers of different interests. The romance pops off the page, the paranormal mystery of how Beth was sent back is intriguing, and the cat and mouse chase with Beth’s serial killer gives a tense foundation on which the rest of the story is built.

The Marshal’s Lady: A Time Travel Western Romance is another work in the excellent Liberty Valley Love series by Josie Malone. It is suitable for the adult reading audience and contains some violent moments authentic to the period. This time, Malone’s gritty world of 1888 gets a blast from the future as homicide detective Beth Chambers finds herself pursuing a criminal through time itself. When she comes across injured Marshal Rad Morgan, duty compels her to stop and help him. Rad is baffled by this headstrong woman who goes against everything he thinks he knows about the culture of western life, but their common thread in upholding the law bonds them together as Beth continues her quest to catch a killer.

Josie Malone is fast becoming the bar by which all western romances should be set. After seeing the gritty realism of the previous historical book in the series, I was a little skeptical about the time travel aspect, but Beth’s interjection into the setting worked perfectly and actually ties together the past and present of Liberty Valley cleverly and originally. The mix of contemporary and authentic dialogue was fun to see. It served to characterize Rad and Beth really well. I was also compelled by the scenes from the killer’s perspective, which created an eerie feeling that hung over the book and built up the tension constantly. Overall, I would recommend The Marshal’s Lady to fans of western romances, time travel crime capers, and anyone who loves a compelling genre mash-up.